Clark Griswold and Forgiveness

The girl is growing up. My friend texted me this picture this morning from car line and it seriously left me dumbfounded. She's not a baby!

She may not be a baby any more but the trouble she gets herself into is going to buy her time at the juvenile detention center!

Things I'm thankful for -

1. A sense of humor
2. A comfy bed that's big enough for everyone to pile into
3. A family of teammates that will take tread marks on their own backs in order to pull you out from under the bus
4. Sharp crayons to get the detail work done
5. Facing the Giants
6. A bank account that seems to be a bit like the five loaves of bread and two fish. Just when I think it's not gonna happen, a miracle occurs.
7. Discernment despite my lack of wisdom
8. Grace

 What a day it's been. Remember that scene from Holiday Vacation where Clark keeps dreaming about the new pool (never mind the bikini clad boobalicious mermaid in the pool)? I keep having daydreams about sitting on a beach with a book and being completely off-duty for a while. Alas, I'm stuck with the Jelly of the Month club.

Anyway, I'll share just one of the many stories that I've logged in the "Parenting for Dummies" book this week.

Annie has learned that she can control situations with her tongue. I call it lying. She calls it accidentally forgetting. Slight logistics issue.

She called me into the bathroom this afternoon for canyon clean-up. When I opened the door (she now closes the door so folks don't see her "privacy" or so she's not "appropriate"), a new roll of TP had been unrolled on the floor. Not just a few spins of the roll. Nope. Almost the entire roll. She giggled at the look on my face. (She hasn't logged the "I'm way too tired for this" look yet to understand that I was on the edge of a SNAP)! I asked her how the TP ended up on the floor and her answer was, "I don't know!" Ugh. Let the inquisition begin. I asked her if she did it. She quickly answered, "No!" I asked how it got there and we were back to answer number 1, "I don't know!" Darn it! I was not in the mood for a rousing new version of Who's on First! So, I went all Cliff Huxtable on the girl and said, "Did Dasha do it?" Her answer was a solid, "Yes, she did it." So, I called Dasha and then gave her the wink before she made it all the way to the bathroom. I began fussing at her. I stayed on this side of the crazy line but my toes were eeking ever so closely to straight out insane. As I started "yelling" at Dasha and telling her to go pick up the TP, Annie started howling and the waterworks opened for business. I admit that I felt victorious because I thought a confession would quickly come and I could get back to fixing dinner. Nope. Amidst the snot and tears, I asked her AGAIN, "Annie, why are you upset? Did you have anything to do with it?" The little convict once again denied the allegations. By this time, Grant and Dasha were laughing so hard (hidden behind the stairs) that they were crying, too! This little mini-manipulator can lie like nobody's business! At this point, I didn't have any idea of what to do. I had exhausted the spirit of Cliff Huxtable and my options were to morph into Major Payne or just hide in the closet and go back to daydreaming like Clark Griswold. Grant decided to take a stab at the situation and Annie jumped into his arms and within a couple of seconds he had a confession from her. Seriously? At that point, I admitted defeat for the night and just went back to scraping the now burned stir fry out of the bottom of the pan. However, as I wearily stood at the stove aggravated about the whole thing and now the burned dinner, I heard someone in the bathroom and I could hear the TP being rolled. What??? About the time I had scraped the last of dinner onto the plates, Annie emerged from the bathroom like a triumphant solider and said, "Don't worry about it. I fixed it." She had rerolled the TP. She came and hugged my legs (which she's now more at butt level so it's sort of weird) and said, "I'm sorry I lied," and then ran off to play. It was that simple for her. Ask for forgiveness and move on. Yikes. I sure wish I could go with that mentality. There are a few too many folks that I've had to ask forgiveness from over the last week. How nice it would be to just ask for forgiveness, know that the person you wronged had truly forgiven you, and then forget about it. As I finished getting drinks to the table, it hit me. That IS how it's supposed to be. Once again, some of us with the hardest of heads have to learn life lessons from the innocence of children.

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14

Good night, all.